Two Boys, Two Transplants And the Fight of a Lifetime – Refusing to give into her disease, one mother gives back with her two sons

 When Kristi Murray became pregnant with her second child, the doctors told her to terminate.  After a lifetime of kidney disease and a trying first pregnancy, they said she could be out of luck – out of strength.  Even if she carried to full term, kidney failure and the transplant list were probably waiting on the other side of this pregnancy.  Kristi looked at her son Gunnar, just a few months old at the time.  Kristi would be fine; she knew it.  Motherhood was her strength.  It was the reason she survived the first time, and it would be the only reason she survived again.
“Gunnar and Jake are my inspirations for everything in life,” Kristi said.  “They’re the reasons I fight so hard to live.  What other choice do I have?  I want to be around for my kids.”
Adversity wasn’t new to Kristi.  At age 15, she was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, which lays dormant in the body for years, slowly wreaking havoc on the kidneys.
“By the time I was diagnosed, I had extensive damage – punctures, scar tissue – to both kidneys,” Kristi recalled.  “They told me I’d never have kids, and I’d be in kidney failure by age 20.”
Kristi refused to accept the circumstances given to her.  Focusing on a healthy lifestyle, she moved forward.  Eventually, she married her husband, Dennis, and though there would be high risk involved, they decided to start a family.  Armed with the leading doctors at Cedars Sinai, Kristi spent most of her first pregnancy on bed rest, and delivered six weeks premature.  Their first son grew easily and quickly, and soon Gunnar was able to go home with his loving, ecstatic parents.  Life wasn’t done throwing the Murrays curveballs, however.
“Months after Gunnar was born, we found out I was pregnant again,” Kristi said.  “This time, they wanted me to terminate my pregnancy because my kidneys hadn’t recovered from the first pregnancy.”
Termination wasn’t an option for Kristi.  She was put on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy, and she delivered her son Jake at 26 weeks.  He was 1 pound 10 ounces and 13 inches long.
“He was a complete miracle baby,” Kristi said with emotion in her voice.  “We never even ran into complications.  He was breathing on his own after three days, and the only thing we were waiting for was for him to grow.”
Just when they seemed to be out of the woods, the doctors pulled Kristi and Dennis into another room.  Kristi was in kidney failure, and she needed a transplant.  Immediately, they reached out to Kristi’s siblings, who were tested and announced as matches.
“People assume family members just do it, but that’s actually not the common thread,” Kristi said.  “I feel so blessed because my sister, Lori, donated her kidney to me on October 9, 2002.  I can never repay her for this gift; it’s a bond we share forever.”
Renewed by her two children and healthy kidney, Kristi put more focus than ever before on health and nutrition.  She was looking for a way to simultaneously promote good habits and give back some of the support she received.
“Doctors kept telling me I couldn’t have sugar or salt, but one of my favorite foods is pickles – I love anything pickled!” Kristi said.  “So I decided to make the best pickles on the market, with the lowest amount of sodium and sugar possible.”
Today Gunnar & Jake’s Gourmet Foods uses five ingredients or less in every jar, and they produce a wide range of pickled products including: pickles, beets, stuffed jalapenos, asparagus, peppers and more.
“They really take me back to my childhood,” Kristi said.  “They capture a time from the 20s when everything was homemade – without preservatives, dyes or sugars.”
Their products were even gifted to guests at the Academy and Emmy awards.  Climbing in success, the Murrays were doing about 12 farmers markets a week, and business was booming by the time Kristi started rejecting her sister’s kidney.
“Her antibodies were too strong, and they were causing my body to reject the kidney.  It’s extremely rare,” Kristi said.  “But I was in kidney failure again, and time was running out.”
As soon as her brother, Neil, found out, he offered his kidney without question.
“He gave the ultimate gift,” Kristi said.
But even with a kidney, Kristi’s transplant was a race against the clock.  The testing and preparation process is very in-depth and, therefore, lengthy.  From the day of consent to the day of surgery, 11 months passed by.
“They didn’t think I was going to make it,” Kristi recalled.
In the meantime, Kristi had undergone a series of horrific treatments – from dialysis to plasma treatments – to maintain her health.
“The whole process took a toll on me physically, mentally and emotionally,” Kristi said.  “To know I was in line to get my second kidney when others weren’t was draining on my heart and soul.  But I kept faith.  I knew I was being setup for something bigger and better in my life.”
As Kristi held onto hope and strength, so did her family.
“It was hard for my boys to see their mom that way.  The first time this happened they were much younger,” Kristi said.  “It was hard for them, but they stepped up.”
Gunnar and Jake helped out however they could.  They helped take care of their mother, as well as the business, playing a large roll in creating the products and attending farmers markets with their dad.
On February 19, Kristi received her second kidney transplant.
“Doctors said I was a dream patient because I stayed optimistic and kept a smile on my face,” Kristi said.
The optimism paid off, and surgery was successful.  Out of the woods once again, today the Murrays are finding ways to give back.
“What better way to help other kidney patients than the American Kidney Fund,” Kristi recalled of their inspiration.  “We donate $1 from every jar sold to the American Kidney Fund, which supports patients who can’t afford proper medical care.”
In addition to financial support, Gunnar & Jake’s Gourmet Foods works to promote awareness about kidney disease, which is the ninth leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  They even participated in George Lopez’s 9th annual Celebrity Golf Classic, which sends more than 250 kids with kidney disease to summer camp.
Today, life is good for the Murrays.
“I’ve faced adversity in my life, but it’s not how you fall; it’s how you get back up and keep fighting,” Krisi said.  “All the money and success in the world don’t mean anything if you don’t have your health.”
For more information about Gunnar & Jake’s Gourmet Foods, please visit www.gunnarandjake.com. 

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